Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 6--Committee on E lections and Procedures FILE NUMBER....... ASSEMBLY CONCURRENT RESOLUTION--Adopting the Joint Rules of the Senate and Assembly for the 68th session of the Legislature. RESOLVED BY THE ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, THE SENATE CONCURRING, That the Joint Rules of the Senate and Assembly as amended by the 67th session are adopted, with the following changes, as the Joint Rules of the Senate and Assembly for the 68th session of the Legislature: 1 COMMITTEES OF CONFERENCE To Be Appointed by One House at Request of the Other. In every case of an amendment of a bill, or joint or concurrent resolution, agreed to in one House, dissented from in the other, and not receded from by the one making the amendment, each House shall appoint a committee to confer with a like committee to be appointed by the other; and the committee so appointed shall meet publicly at a convenient hour to be agreed upon by their respective chairmen and announced publicly, and shall confer upon the differences between the two Houses as indicated by the amendments made in one and rejected in the other and report as early as convenient the result of their conference to their respective Houses. The report shall be made available to all members of both Houses. The whole subject matter embraced in the bill or resolution shall be considered by the committee, and it may recommend recession by either House, new amendments, new bills or resolutions, or other changes as it sees fit. New bills or resolutions so reported shall be treated as amendments unless the bills or resolutions are composed entirely of original matter, in which case they shall receive the treatment required in the respective Houses for original bills, or resolutions, as the case may be. The report of a conference committee may be adopted by acclamation, and such action may be considered equivalent to the adoption of amendments embodied therein. The report is not subject to amendment. If either House refuses to adopt the report, or if the first conference committee has so recommended, a second conference committee may be appointed. No member who served on the first committee may be appointed to the second. There shall be but two committees of conference on any bill or resolution. A majority of the members of a committee of conference from each House must be members who voted for the passage of the bill or resolution. 2 MESSAGES Procedure Concerning. Proclamations by the Governor convening the Legislature in extra session shall, by direction of the presiding officer of each House, be read immediately after the convening thereof, filed and entered in full upon the Journal of proceedings. Whenever a message from the Governor is received, the Sergeant at Arms will announce: "Mr. President, or Mr. Speaker, the Secretary of the Governor is at the bar." The secretary will, upon being recognized by the presiding officer, announce: "Mr. President, or Mr. Speaker, a message from His Excellency, the Governor of Nevada, to the Honorable, the Senate or Assembly," and hand same to the Sergeant at Arms for delivery to the Secretary of the Senate or Chief Clerk of the Assembly. The presiding officer will direct the biennial message of the Governor to be received and read, and all special messages to be received, read and entered in full upon the Journal of proceedings. Messages from the Senate to the Assembly shall be delivered by the Secretary or Assistant Secretary, and messages from the Assembly to the Senate shall be delivered by the Chief Clerk or Assistant Clerk, who shall be announced by the doorkeeper, enter within the bar, announce and deliver his message. 3 BILLS Communications. Each House shall communicate its final action on any bill or resolution, or matter in which the other may be interested, in writing, signed by the Secretary or Clerk of the House from which such notice is sent. 4 BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS Signature. Each enrolled bill or joint resolution shall be presented to the presiding officers of both Houses for signature. They shall, after announcement is made of their intention to do so, sign it in open session and their signatures shall be followed by those of the Secretary of the Senate and Chief Clerk of the Assembly. 5 Reserved. 6 PRINTING Each House may order the printing of bills introduced, reports of its own committees, and other matter pertaining to that House only; but no other printing may be ordered except by a concurrent resolution passed by both Houses. Each Senator is entitled to the free distribution of four copies of each bill introduced in each House, and each Assemblyman to such a distribution of two copies. Additional copies of such bills may be distributed at a charge to the person to whom they are addressed. The amount charged for distribution of the additional copies must be determined by the Director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau to approximate the cost of handling and postage for the entire session. 7 RESOLUTIONS 1. A joint resolution must be used to: (a) Propose an amendment to the Nevada constitution. (b) Ratify a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. (c) Address the President of the United States, Congress, either House or any committee or member of Congress, any department or agency of the Federal Government, or any other state of the Union. 2. A concurrent resolution must be used to: (a) Amend these joint rules. (b) Request the return from the Governor of an enrolled bill for further consideration. (c) Resolve that the return of a bill from one House to the other House is necessary and appropriate. (d) Express facts, principles, opinion and purposes of the Senate and Assembly. (e) Establish a joint committee of the two Houses. (f) Direct the Legislative Commission to conduct an interim study. 3. A concurrent resolution or a resolution of one House may be used to: (a) Memorialize a former member of the Legislature or other notable or distinguished person upon his death. (b) Congratulate or commend any person or organization for a significant and meritorious accomplishment, but any request for drafting the resolution must be approved by the Senate Committee on Legislative Affairs and Operations or the Assembly Committee on Elections and Procedures before submission to the Legislative Counsel. 8 VETOES Special Order. Bills which have passed a previous Legislature, and which are transmitted to the Legislature next sitting, accompanied by a message or statement of the Governor's disapproval, or veto of the same, shall become the subject of a special order; and when the special order for their consideration is reached and called, the said message or statement shall be read, together with the bill or bills so disposed or vetoed; and the message and bill shall be read by the Clerk without interruption, consecutively, one following the other, and not upon separate occasions; and no such bill or message shall be referred to any committee, or otherwise acted upon, save as provided by law and custom; that is to say, that immediately following such reading the only question (except as hereinafter stated) which shall be put by the Chair is, "Shall the bill pass, notwithstanding the objections of the Governor?" It shall not be in order, at any time, to vote upon such vetoed bill without the same shall have first been read, from the first word of its title to and including the last word of its final section; and no motion shall be entertained after the Chair has stated the question save a motion for "The previous question," but the merits of the bill itself may be debated. 9 ADJOURNMENT 1. In calculating the permissible duration of an adjournment for 3 days or less, the day of adjournment must not be counted but the day of the next meeting must be counted, and Sunday must not be counted. 2. The Legislature may adjourn for more than 3 days by concurrent resolution. One or more such adjournments, for a total of not more than 20 days during any regular session, may be taken to permit standing committees, select committees or the Legislative Counsel Bureau to prepare the matters respectively entrusted to them for the consideration of the Legislature as a whole. 3. In addition to any adjournment taken pursuant to subsection 2, after the first 19 calendar days of a regular legislative session, the Legislature shall adjourn until the 36th calendar day of the regular session in accordance with NRS 218.115. During this adjournment, the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and the Assembly Standing Committee on Ways and Means shall hold hearings in both the mornings and afternoons to consider the budgets of the major agencies of the state. The two committees shall, when practicable, meet jointly while maintaining majorities of both committees. During this adjournment all other standing committees may hold hearings at any place in the state on legislative measures or on any general topic which is pertinent to possible legislative action. 4. During the adjournment taken pursuant to subsection 3: (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of Senate Standing Rule No. 92 and Assembly Standing Rule No. 92, an agenda may be revised by the chairman of a committee to add or delete any item at any time on the day before the meeting. The revised agenda must be posted at the place of the meeting, and must appear in the daily history when the Legislature reconvenes. (b) Actions taken by committees have the same effect as actions taken while the Legislature is in session. 10 EXPENDITURES FROM THE LEGISLATIVE FUND Except for routine salary, travel, equipment and operating expenses, no expenditures shall be made from the Legislative Fund without the authority of a Concurrent Resolution regularly adopted by the Senate and Assembly. 11 LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION 1. When members of the minority party in the Senate or in the Assembly comprise less than 34 percent of the total number elected to that House, minority party membership for that House on the Legislative Commission must be: (a) One, if such membership is less than 21 percent. (b) Two, if such membership is between 21 percent and 33 percent. If the members of the minority party in the Senate or in the Assembly comprise more than 33 percent of the total number elected to that House, minority party membership for that House on the Commission must be three, being equal to the membership of the majority party. 2. Each House shall select one or more alternate members for each member from that House, designating them according to party or according to the individual member whom the alternate would replace. 3. A vacancy in the regular Senate or Assembly membership created by death or by resignation or by the Legislator's ceasing to be a member of the Legislature shall be filled by the proper alternate member as designated by that House. If there is no proper alternate member, the Legislative Commission shall fill the vacancy by appointing a Senator or Assemblyman of the same party. 4. If for any reason a member is or will be absent from a meeting and there are no alternates available, the chairman of the commission may appoint a member of the same House and political party to attend the meeting as an alternate. 5. The members shall serve until their successors are appointed by resolution as provided in NRS 218.660, notwithstanding that their terms of office may have expired, except that the membership of any member who does not become a candidate for reelection or who is defeated for reelection shall terminate on the day next after the election and the vacancy shall be filled as provided in this rule. 6. The chairman shall be selected at the first meeting of the newly formed Legislative Commission and shall serve until his successor is appointed following the formation of the next Legislative Commission. 12 RECORDING COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS ON AUDIO TAPE 1. Each standing committee of the Legislature shall record on audio tape the proceedings of its meetings. 2. The secretary of a standing committee shall: (a) Label each tape with the date, time and place of the meeting and also indicate on the label the numerical sequence in which the tape was recorded; (b) Keep the tapes in chronological order; and (c) Deposit the tapes immediately following the final adjournment of any regular or special session of the Legislature with the Director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau. 3. The Director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau shall: (a) Index the tapes; (b) Make the tapes available for listening by any person during office hours under such reasonable conditions as he may deem necessary; (c) Maintain a log as a public record containing the date, time, name and address of any person listening to any tapes and identifying the tapes listened to; and (d) Retain the tapes for two bienniums and at the end of that period dispose of the tapes in any manner he deems reasonable. 13 REAPPORTIONMENT The Committee on Government Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Elections and Procedures of the Assembly are respectively responsible for measures which primarily affect the designation of the districts from which members are elected to the Legislature. Any request for research concerning the population of proposed districts must be submitted to the Research Division of the Legislative Counsel Bureau through one of these committees. 14 LIMITATION ON INTRODUCTION AND REQUESTS FOR DRAFTING OF LEGISLATIVE MEASURES 1. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 2, any request submitted, after a regular legislative session has convened, to the Legislative Counsel for the drafting of a bill or resolution will not be honored by the Legislative Counsel unless the request is approved by: (a) A two-thirds vote of the members present in the House where it is to be introduced; or (b) A standing committee of that House if the request was approved by two-thirds of all of the members of the committee before the request was submitted to the Legislative Counsel. A standing committee may only request the drafting of a bill or resolution or introduce a bill or resolution that is within the jurisdiction of the standing committee. 2. After a regular legislative session has convened, the Legislative Counsel shall honor not more than 5 requests from each Assemblyman and not more than 10 requests from each Senator for the drafting of a bill or resolution which has not received the approval required by subsection 1. 3. After the first 10 calendar days of a regular legislative session, bills and joint resolutions may be introduced by: (a) Standing committees without consent. A measure introduced by a standing committee must indicate the person or organization at whose request the measure was drafted. (b) Except as otherwise provided in subsection 4, a member who had requested the drafting of the bill or resolution by the Legislative Counsel before the [11th] \16th\\ calendar day of the legislative session. 4. The following measures must be introduced by a standing committee: (a) Measures drafted at the request of agencies and officers of the executive branch of state government, local governments, the courts and other authorized nonlegislative requesters. (b) Measures requested by interim legislative studies. (c) Bills and joint resolutions requested by a standing committee, or by persons designated to request measures on behalf of a standing committee during the interim. Bills and joint resolutions requested by or on behalf of a standing committee must be introduced by that committee. 5. Simple and concurrent resolutions requested by or on behalf of a standing committee may be introduced by an individual member. 6. If two or more measures are being considered in the same house which are subtantively duplicative, only the measure which has been assigned the lowest number for the purpose of establishing its priority in drafting may be considered, unless the measure with the lowest number is not introduced within 5 days after introduction of a measure with a higher number. 7. A legislator may not change the subject matter of a request for a legislative measure after it has been submitted for drafting. 8. Consent to suspend this rule may be given only by the affirmative vote of a majority of the members elected to the House where it is to be introduced, which must be entered in its Journal for that day, and the consent may apply to no more than one bill or resolution or request for drafting. 15 CONTINUATION OF LEADERSHIP OF THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY DURING THE INTERIM BETWEEN SESSIONS 1. Except as otherwise provided in subsections 2 and 3, the tenure of the President pro Tem, Majority Leader and Minority Leader of the Senate and the Speaker, Speaker pro Tem, Majority Leader and Minority Leader of the Assembly extends during the interim between regular sessions of the Legislature. 2. The Senators designated to be the President pro Tem, Majority Leader and Minority Leader for the next succeeding regular session shall perform any statutory duty required in the period between the time of their designation after the general election and the organization of the next succeeding regular session of the Legislature if the Senator formerly holding the respective position is no longer a Legislator. 3. The Assemblymen designated to be the Speaker, Speaker pro Tem, Majority Leader and Minority Leader for the next succeeding regular session shall perform any statutory duty required in the period between the time of their designation after the general election and the organization of the next succeeding regular session. 16 TIME LIMITATIONS ON INTRODUCTION OF LEGISLATION REQUESTED BY STATE OR LOCAL GOVERNMENT 1. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 2, on the first legislative day, the Legislative Counsel shall randomly deliver, in equal amounts, all legislative measures drafted at the request of any state agency or department or any local government to the Majority Leader of the Senate and the Speaker of the Assembly for consideration for introduction. Bill drafts delivered pursuant to this subsection may not be introduced after the 15th legislative day. 2. Any legislative measure properly requested in accordance with NRS 218.241 and 218.245 by any state agency or department or any local government which has not been drafted before the first legislative day must, upon completion, be immediately and randomly delivered, in equal amounts, by the Legislative Counsel to the Majority Leader of the Senate and the Speaker of the Assembly for consideration for introduction. Bill drafts delivered pursuant to this subsection may be introduced only during the 15 legislative days following delivery. 17 DATE OF FIRST JOINT BUDGET HEARING The first joint meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and the Assembly Standing Committee on Ways and Means to consider the budgets of the agencies of the state must be held on or before the 92nd calendar day of the regular session. 18 CRITERIA FOR REVIEWING BILLS THAT REQUIRE POLICIES OF HEALTH INSURANCE TO PROVIDE COVERAGE FOR CERTAIN TREATMENT OR SERVICES Any standing committee of the Senate or Assembly to which a bill is referred requiring a policy of health insurance delivered or issued for delivery in this state to provide coverage for any treatment or service shall review the bill giving consideration to: 1. The level of public demand for the treatment or service for which coverage is required and the extent to which such coverage is needed in this state; 2. The extent to which coverage for the treatment or service is currently available; 3. The extent to which the required coverage may increase or decrease the cost of the treatment or service; 4. The effect the required coverage will have on the cost of obtaining policies of health insurance in this state; 5. The effect the required coverage will have on the cost of health care provided in this state; and 6. Such other considerations as are necessary to determine the fiscal and social impact of requiring coverage for the treatment or service. 19 INTERIM FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEES Each legislative committee that adopted any findings or recommendations during the interim since the last regular session of the Legislature shall, no later than the 14th calendar day of the regular session, inform interested members of the Senate and Assembly of those findings and recommendations. -30-